Bow forming and tying jig



Oct. 2, 1951 J. W. MITCHELL -BOW FORMING AND TYING JIG Filed May 19, 1949 2;) 26 Fig. 28

Inventor John W. Mitchell Patented Oct. 2, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOW FORMING ANDI TYING .JIG

J ohnW'. Mitchell, J amestown, .N. Y. ,Applicatilln May 1}), 1949,:SerialNo. 94,209

' 3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a ribbon holding device Which,may be classified as a bow forming and tying jig and pertains, more particularly, to one which is expressly adapted for practical and expedient use on a bench or table in florists shops, for quickly making up decorative-bows for attachment to corsages,-floral pieces and the like.

' I have discovered the needfor a simple, economical and practical device through the medium of which unskilled hands may quickly and easily make up bows while the more experienced and skilled persons of the establishment may attend to the real task of preparing requisite corsages, floral pieces and so on and. so forth. By thus properly apportioning the work and coordinating the make-up steps .it becomes possible for florist shops to efiectively handlecrders during rush seasons when, during a period of-a limited few days, the saving of timeandlabor isso important.

In reducing to practice, a preferred embodiment of my inventive ideas I have evolvedand produced an ingeniously constructed ribbon clenching and holding jig characterized by supportingmeans which is attachableand adjustably usable on the bench to. meet the requirements of the individual andwhich is novel and aptly constructed'for resultful achievements in that it embodies an arrangement of unique and complemental .mechanical fingers to hold the ribbon and to allow same to be laced through the fingers and looped back and forth to make upa decorative bow.

. More, specifically, the invention has to do with a simple table clamp, a rodattached to and adjustably. supported from. the .clamp, and three spring fingers rigidly mounted atop the upper end of the, rod and bent andassociated to provide a ribbon clenching, gathering .and holding vise.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the ,followingdescription and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings, whereinjlike numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout. the views:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a ribbon holding bow making jig constructed in accordance with the principles of theginstant,invention;

Figure 2 is what may be called a fragmentary front elevational view showing the manner in which the ribbon is held and looped and-further showing the tie-wire about to be-brought; into play to complete the bow;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic viewshow-ingone way in-- which the mid-portions of the ribbon are 2 threaded or laced between the fingers and ;;hei while forming the loops.

Referring now to thedrawings by distinguish ing reference numerals and accompanying lead lines the bench clamp is denoted by the numeral 5, the upright means by the numeral 6 and the three fingers by the numerals 1, 8 and 9 respec.- tively.

The unit 5 is a substantially U-shaped clamp embodying an upper limb ID, a lower limb H and a connective or bight portion I2. Limbs 10' and II are provided with aligned holes I3 and? M for passage of the lower adjustable-endpor tion of the upright or rod l5. A set-screw I6 is provided in the bight portion to engage the rod as shownand to permit it to be held in a set or established position. The rod may be slid up and down or turned axially to properly locate the fingers I, 8 and 9 accordingto the requirements of the user. Another set-screw. H p is mounted in the lower limb for securing the clamp on a bench, table or the like (not shown). Screw holes 18 and I}! are provided in the upper: limb in case one .desires to permanently fix the clamp on a bench.

The fingers l, .8 and 9 are of spring steel and possessed of requisite resiliency. The straight shank portions 28, 2| and 22 are nested closely together ,in approximate parallelism and ,are welded or otherwise attached to the u per end of the rod, these portions 20, 2| ancl;22 .form a triple-part viseIand allow the associated portions of the ribbon to be .forcibly drawn down and .frictionally bound and gathered in the vise. The fingers 8 and 9 are of duplicate construction but disposed in reverse order and lie in the same plane and the intermediate portions 23 and areV-shaped while the upper free ends are of curvate form and flare outward y as: at 25 and Z6. These 7, flaring ends facili ate feeding the mid-portions of the ribbon edgewise betweenthe several fingers. The finger l, which is primarily aieeder and clencher, is longitudinally bowed at 21 andhas its free upper end 28 flexed or defiected to cross the crotch portion 29 between the contacting bends of said fingers 8 and 9. Thus deflected thefinger 1 assists in guiding the ribbon portions into overlapping and gathering p0 sitions and avoidsthe likelihood of piercing and tearing the ribbon. Thus, we have a three-fingered ribbon anchoring, gathering and holding means which, after limited practice, may be-successfu1ly--used by an unskilled person in making up and turningout-decorative ribbon =bo-ws with In Figure 2 the overlapping mid-portion of the single strip of ribbon is denoted by the numeral 30 and the left and right hand loops by the numerals 3| and 32 respectively. The numeral 33 designates a corsage wire which is used for tying and finishing the bow.

In Figure 3 one end of the piece of ribbon is denoted by the numeral 34 and in practice this end portion of the ribbon is laced or fed between the fingers 8 and 9 as at 35. It is then looped upon itself to form what may be called a righthand loop 36 and is returned and fed back between the same fingers 8 and 9 as at 31. The end portion of the ribbon is then looped upon itself to form the left-hand loop 38 and is returned and bent back at 38a between the several fingers and these steps are repeated over and over until the complete length of ribbon is fashioned into a bow of the type illustrated in Figure 2. Incidentally, in Figure 3 the free end of the ribbon at the right, is denoted bytlie numeral 39. It will be noticed that the curvate upper ends'of the several fingers allow the overlapping and gathered portions of the ribbon to be pressed, edgewise, down between the fingers for the back and forth lacingand loop forming steps 7 Next, the tying wire 33 is brought into play and Figure? we see the wire bent between its ends as at 4|) with the free ends 4! and 42 crossed with one another as at 43. By pulling the bend 40 down between the finger-ends 25 and 26 and passing it down through the crotch 29 and wrapping the wire around the overlapped ribbon portions 30, said portions are gathered and bound and the'free ends of the wire are twisted in an obvious manner. The thus finished bow may now be pulled up and disconnected from the fingers 1, 8 and 9. 7

It is obvious that'supplying complete instruc tionsfor bow-making in a paper such as this is atask indeed inasmuch as it is not practical in the limit'ed'space of the drawings provided to describe and animate reasonably skillful and nimble human fingers at work. Depending on acquiredskill and dexterity certain operators will find it possible to make unusually fancy bows and rosettes and in so doing may not pursue the exact procedures described. For example some, instead of applying the tie wire .as shown in Figure 2 may. see fit to slip the gathered portions of the ribbon up and to feed the tie wire through-the loop or eye provided by the V bends 23 and 24 and tie the wire ends together in an upward instead of a downward direction. It will be clear, however, that I have actually made up and used the jig herein shown and am primarily interested in protecting the structural details rather than the mode or method of holding a ribbon betweenmultiple fingers and looping and tying same into a bow.

Inasmuch as the main fingers 8 and 9 are-of equal lengths and in the sameplane with each other, itwill be noticed that the opposite outbent V-shaped portions coordinate indefining a diamond-shaped eye through which the intermediate portions of the respective loops 36 and 38a are threaded. Then too, the curvate free terminals 25 and 26 cooperate in defining a substantially V-shaped feeder whose crotch portion registers with the eye and facilitates piloting the wire into tying position as best shown in Figure,2 ofizthe drawings, The curvilinear. third finger 1 is shorter than the other fingers8 and Band has 4 its free end portion directed across the crotch. The main portion of the curve, however, is opposed and parallel to the V-shaped portion of the left hand finger 8.

Although the preceding description emphasizes that my tying jig is primarily usable in fiorists shops, I desire to have it understood the expression fiorists shops is not necessarily a limitation; for, obviously, such a jig may be employed in department stores for tying bows for Christmas packages and, as a matter of fact, used in ones home for tying if and when needed.

A, careful consideration of the foregoing description in conjunction with the invention as illustrated in the drawings will enable the reader to obtain a clearrunderstanding and impression of the alleged features of merit and novelty sufficient to clarify the construction of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Havingdescribed the invention, what is claimed as new is:

. 1. A ribbon clenching and holding jig through the medium of which a single length of ribbon may be alternately looped upon itself, gathered and fashioned into a decorative corsage bow com-. prising a support, and a plurality of vertically disposed juxtaposed spring fingers having their lowerends disposed in close proximity with each other and securely anchored on said support to provide a wedge-like ribbon bunching and gathering vise, there being three such fingers and two of such fingers being long and substantially duplicated, opposed, and in a plane with each other and, the remaining finger being shorter and superimposed upon and contacting said two fingers and the 'upper' free end portion 'of said remainingfinger being deflected from one of said long fingers and being disposed in approximate parallelism with the remaining long finger in a manner to facilitate the steps of inserting and holding the ribbon and finally tying and remov ing' the finished bow.

2. A bow making and tying jig for use, under ordinary circumstances, in a florist shop,'comprising a single standard adapted for vertical positioning on a bench or similar support, means on the lower end of said standard for adjustably attaching the latter to said support, a pairof duplicate companion main fingers having their lower ends anchored in the upper end of said standard, said fingers being disposed in a plane with each other and having corresponding intermediate portions of V-shaped form with the respective vertices disposed in directions out wardly from each other and providing asubstantially diamond-shaped eye, the upper terminal ends of said fingers being free and disposed in outwardly diverging relation and defining a V-shaped feeder the crotch of which is com-, municatively registrable with one end of said eye, and a third complemental finger secured-lat its lower end to the upper. end of said standard, said third finger being disposed in parallelism in respect to the first-named fingers. 1

3. A bow making and tying jig for use, under ordinary circumstances, in a florist shop, comprising a single standard adapted for vertical positioning on a bench or similar support, means on thelower end of saidstandard for adjustably attaching the latter to said 'support a pair. of duplicate companion main fingers having their lower endsnanchored in the upper end o f said standard, said fingers being disposeddnaplane 5 with each other and having corresponding intermediate portions of V-shaped form with the respective vertices disposed in directions outwardly from each other and providing a substantially diamond-shaped eye, the upper terminal ends of said fingers being free and disposed in outwardly diverging relation and defining a V-shaped feeder the crotch of which is communicatively registrable with one end of said eye,

and a third complemental finger secured at its 10 6 free curvate terminal portion disposed in close proximity to and coacting with said crotch.

JOHN W. MITCHELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,307,069 Weismantel June 17, 1919 1,308,800 Mendelson et a1. July 8, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 172,274 Germany Mar. 3, 1905 

